MillenniumPost
Business

‘PSU Kandla port more efficient than Adani’s’

Taking a dig at the Opposition for linking Adani group with the government, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said state-owned Kandla port was more efficient than Adani’s Mundra port, both of which are in Gujarat.

Gadkari’s remarks came during Question Hour in response to TMC member Saugata Roy who mentioned the name of the Adani group when the Minister was replying to supplementaries relating to ports. “You always link the name of Adani with the government.

It is for the first time that Kandla Port increased its efficiency by 1.44 per cent while Adani’s port went into minus. We have increased our business and they are in the minus,” the Shipping Minister said. He said “we are getting more business, we have got more turnover and more profit and we are comparing with the Adani’s port with a 1.4 per cent increase”. TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay wondered whether induction of representatives of private ports in port trust advisory boards would damage the interests of government ports. In response, Gadkari said if there is a conflict of interest and “we will definitely take your suggestion and act on it”. 

Meanwhile, government plans to set up four new major ports at Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh at an investment of Rs 32,000 crore under PPP model. “Four new major ports are proposed at Colachel, Tamil Nadu (at an estimated cost of Rs 6,000 crore approx), Dahanu, Maharashtra (Rs 9,000 crore approx), Sagar Island, West Bengal (Rs 11,000 crore approx) Dugarajapatnam, Andhra Pradesh (Rs 6,000 crore approx),” Minister of State for Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan said in a written reply to Lok Sabha on Thursday. These projects are proposed to be taken up through combination of public and private investment, he said. In addition, outer harbour projects are proposed to be taken up in VOC port at Tuticorin at an expenditure of about Rs 11,000 crore and Paradip, Odisha at Rs 5,000 crore approx, he said.

Apart from 12 major ports, which are under the control of the centre, there are about 200 non-major ports under the control of the respective maritime state governments, he said. The overall capacity of operational non-major ports is 658.71 million tonnes and major ports capacity is 871.52 million tonnes as on March 31, 2015, he said.
Next Story
Share it